





LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 


* /i * 

1831. j Capital $ 1,500,000. 


1881. 


Washburn & Moen M’f’g Co. 



GROVE ST. WORKS, ( WOT? PVSTFTJ M»cc 

quinsigamond works, 1 WORCESTER, Mass. 


WAREHOUSES: 


New York, 

21 Cliff Street. 


Chicago, 

107 Lake Street. 



















































\ 


\ 











GALVANIZED IRON WIRE 


AS EMPLOYED IN THE 


Telegraph i Telephone 




A HISTORY Am VIEW OF THE WORLD’S ELECTRIC 
JERlAl LARD SERVICE, 


V 


T 




ALG 26 1381 /] 

uU.uso.r^. 


||||||1 ^ I ^p Op 

WASHBURN AND MOEN MANUFACTURING'CO., 


WORCESTER, MASS., U. S. A. 


l88l. 





















rm/ 


Entered According to Act of Congress in the Year Eighteen 
Hundred and Eighty-one, by 


WASHBURN AND MOEN MANUFACTURING COMPANY, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 


WORCESTER, MASS., U. S. A. 


SNOW. WOODMAN AND COMPANY. PRINTERS. 















































































LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Grove Street Works. - - Frontispiece. 


Quinsigamond Works. - - Page 13 

Worcester Gauge. - • “23 

Birmingham and Worcester Gauges. “ 25 

Joints in Telegraph Wire. - “ 41 

Mechanical Tests of Wire. - “ 45 














4 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


Page 

Electro Magnetism discovered. ... 9 

Electric Telegraph invented. ... 9 

Needle Telegraph invented. 10 

Aerial Telegraph invented. - - - 10 

First Working Telegraph Line. - - - 11 

Telegraph Poles first m ed. 12 

First Electric Telegraph Company. - - 12 

English Government Telegraph Service. - 14 

Prof. 8 . F. B. Morse’s Inventions. - - 14 

The Telephone discovered. 15 

United States Telegraph Service. 10 

World’s Telegraph Service. - - 17-18-19 

Proportion of Telegraph Supply to Population. 20 

Sizes of Wire in use. 21 

History of Wire Drawing. 22 

The Drawing Block, .... 22 

History of the Wire Gauge. 23 

Washburn & Moen or Worcester Gauge. - 23 

Birmingham and Worcester Gauges compared. 24 

Sizes of Wire in Telegraph Service. - 25-26-27 

Material of Telegraph Wire. 28 

Requisitions of Telegraph Service. - - 29 

hat is Telegraph Wire? - - 30 

Homogeneous Metal. .... 33 


















vi. CONTENTS. 


Testing Telegraph Wire. - 


- 

34 

Electrical Tests of Telegraph Wire. 


- - 

36 

The Siemens Unit. - 


- 

37 

The Ohm or B. A. Unit. 


- 

37 

Mechanical Tests. 


- 

39 

Long Lengths of Wire. 


- 

40 

The Patent Continuous process. - 


- 

40 

Joints, how made. - 


- 

41 

Elongation Test. 



43 

Tests of Telegraph Wire in 1859. - 


- 

44 

Torsion Test, 


- 

46 

W. U. Telegraph Company’s Tests. 


- 

47 

Galvanized Iron Telegraph Wire. 


- 

49 

Galvanized Wire in Europe. 


- 

51 

History of Galvanizing. 


- 

52 

Use of Large Telegraph Wire. 


- 

58 

Telephone Wire. 


- 

60 

What is the Telephone ? 


- 

61 

What is Telephone Wire ? - 


- 

63 

What is good Wire? 


- 

65 

Fifty years of Wire Drawing. 

- 

• 

67 


TT 






1 


uu 


EGRAPH WIRE. 


M^d of to-day, who are onl} r beginning to 
confess to middle age, can* recall the time 
not long ago when, in all countries, the rela¬ 
tion of the professional Electrician to the 
business affairs of life, had the haziest of 
meanings. It is better understood in our 
own day, when the executive and operative 
armies of the Telegraph and Telephone num¬ 
ber many thousands in all parts of the globe. 

A careful review of the material facts of 
the world’s Electric aerial land service, 
relating to the transmitting wire is at¬ 
tempted in what follows. 

History of the Electric Telegraph. 

In 1819, Professor Christian CErsted, of 
Copenhagen, discovered Electro-magnetism, 
upon which the art of the Electric Telegraph 
is based. 

* i 

In 1833, the Electric Telegraph was in¬ 
vented by Professor Weber and Counsellor 
Gauss, at Gottingen. The first land line of 

















TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


telegraph was built by Professor Weber, in 
1833, mainly for the purpose of experiment¬ 
ing, in an extended manner, upon the laws 
regulating the strength of currents under 
different circumstances. The line consisted 
of two wires, connecting the University of 
Gottingen with the Cabinet of Physics, and 
was about six thousand feet in length. 

In 183G, William Fotliergill Cooke, then a 
3 r oung Indian officer, completed a device for 
applying electric transmission to telegraphic 
purposes. He used six wires, forming three 
metallic circuits, influencing three needles, 
by which an alphabet of 26 siguals was de¬ 
vised, practically the English Needle Tele¬ 
graph, for many years in use in Great Britain. 

In 1837, Messrs. Cooke & Wheatstone’s 
Five-needle Telegraph was tried successfully 
on a small scale, by the London & Birming¬ 
ham Railway company, near London. 

In 1837, Professor Steinheil, of Munich, 
constructed a line of telegraph between the 
Royal Academy in Munich and the Observa¬ 
tory in Bogenhausen, a distance of three 
miles. Both wires were stretched from 
three to ten feet apart, over the steeples of 
the city. In places where there were no high 
buildings, the wires were attached to cross 




ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHY. 


arms, supported by poles set in the ground. 
The poles were between forty and fifty feet 
in length, and the distance between them 
from six hundred to eight hundred feet. He 
had constructed two other lines, making- 
three circuits of wire, but the whole were 
arranged to be on one common circuit. The 
three lines had double wires forming a com¬ 
plete metallic circuit. In experimenting with 
these lines, Prof. Steinheil discovered that 
the earth was a conducting medium in con¬ 
junction with the aerial wire; a discovery of 
great value in practical telegraphy, which 
has most largely contributed to the exten¬ 
sive development of telegraph service. 

In 1839, the first working telegraph line was 
constructed in England, extending from Pad¬ 
dington (Great Western Railway), London, 
to West Drayton, a distance of a little more 
than thirteen miles. It was composed of six 
copper wires, enclosed in a wrought iron 
tube, an inch and a half in diameter, and six 
imches above the ground, which was laid 
alongside the railway. The Avires were in¬ 
sulated from each other, within the tube by a 
covering of hemp. Its use was gradually 
but rapidly extended to the most important 
trunk lines. The primary object_of these 




12 


TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


first English telegraphs was the exchange 
of messages necessary for expediting the 
railway service; but it was soon found 
that the public would employ the telegraph 
if it were thrown open to them, and the rail¬ 
way companies, therefore, allowed their 
clerks to forward public messages, as a fa¬ 
vor, upon payment of high rates. In this 
way, commercial telegraphy was grafted upon 
railway telegraphy, and both grew to¬ 
gether. 

In 1842, much difficulty having been expe¬ 
rienced in the insulation of lines under¬ 
ground and in iron tubes, William Fothergill 
Cooke adopted the method of placing the 
wires on poles, and then of insulating them 
by attaching them to supports of stone or 
earthen-ware; and this method of aerial con¬ 
struction, with various modifications, has 
since been largely employed in all parts of 
the world, its greater cheapness largely stim¬ 
ulating the construction of telegraph lines. 

In 1846, nine years after the first line had 
been put up iu England, the first telegraph 
company—the Electric Telegraph Company— 
was incorporated. Its object was principally 
to erect lines for the railway companies and 
—so little was the public support reckoned 








































































































































































































































































































i 4 TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


on at tlie time—to transmit public messages 
iu the spare time available. 

In England no assistance whatever was 
rendered by the government, and it was only 
after several years of adversity that the un¬ 
dertaking became firmly established. On 
Feb. 1st, 1870, the English government en¬ 
tered into possession of all the commercial 
telegraph lines in the United Kingdom, for a 
total outlay of about $40,000,000. The Elec¬ 
tric Telegraph Company was at that time 
working 10,000 miles of line over 50,000 
miles of wire. The railway companies re- 
tain their own service telegraph lines. 

In June, 1840, Prof. S. F. B. Morse obtained 
his patent in the United States, based on the 
specification filed by him in April, 1838. He 
had devised a system of telegraphing in 
1832, while on a sea voyage to Havre, and 
made some type for the model. In 1835-36, 
he exhibited it to his friends in New York. 
In 1837 he devised his system of combined 
circuits. 

In 1843, March 3, Congress appropriated 
the sum of $30,000 to aid Professor Morse 
in testing the practicability of his invention. 

In 1844, Prof. Morse worked successfully the 
first telegraph line constructed in America, 




ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHY. 


15 


forty miles long, between Washington and 
Baltimore. The earliest design of the in¬ 
ventor was to build an underground line, 
and forty miles of covered copper wire was 
ordered for the purpose, but when the first 
seven miles were laid, insulation failed, and 
this first telegraph line in the United States 
was built of No. 16 copper wire, carried on 
poles, and insulated at the poiuts of support 
by means of cloth saturated with gum-lac. 
Prof. Morse’s fame rests, in his own words, 
“upon the invention of a new art , the art of 
imprinting characters at a distance for tele¬ 
graphing purposes , all previous known modes 
of telegraphy being by evanescent signs.” 

In 1876 the problem of the electric trans¬ 
mission of speech was solved, in the Tele¬ 
phone, by Graham Bell and Elisha Gray, each 
working on distinct lines of inquiry, and 
reaching almost simultaneous results in in¬ 
vestigations shared and variously claimed by 
numerous other parties on both sides of the 
Atlantic. The rapid introduction of the 
Telephone service stands without parallel in 
the history of inventions In Great Britain 
the public Telephone service has been ab¬ 
sorbed by the government as part of tin* 
Telegraph System. 







16 TELEGRAPH WIRE . 


The development of telegraphs in the 
United States was recently investigated with 
considerable care and pains, by a gentleman 
who has given the Bailroad Gazette the fol¬ 
lowing : 

U. S. TELEGRAPH W IRE. 



Miles of—v 


^-Miles of—% 

Year. 

Line. 

Wire. 

Year. 

Line. 

Wire 

1848. 

2,000 

3.000 

1866. 

53,403 

108,245 

1850. 

14,675 

22,013 

1870. 

77,298 

130,780 

1853. 

17,583 

26,375 

1877. 

111,652 

257,974 

1860. 

29,412 

50,294 

1880. 

142,364 

350,008 


Thus, from 1860 to 1870, the period includ¬ 
ing the w r ar, there w T as an increase of 162 per 
cent, in the length of line, and 220 per cent, 
in length of wires, and from 1870 to 1880 an 
increase of 84 per cent, in miles of line, and 
119 per cent, in miles of wire, and in the 
three years from 1877 to 1880 the increase 
was no less than 27£ per cent, in line, and 
35£ in wire, and this at a time when the 
country would seem to have been already 
pretty well supplied. There are now 350 
people in this country to one mile of line and 
143 to one mile-of wire. By the same invest¬ 
igation, it appeared that at the end of 1880 
there were about 14,000 telegraph offices in 
the country, and 24,000 employees, sending 
50,000,000 messages yearly. 






THE WORLD'S TELEGRAPH SERVICE. 17 


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Miles of Miles of . Miles of Miles of 

Wire. Line. Wire. Line. 


18 TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


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Algeria. 9,860 5,850 Egypt, .... 8,960 5,288 

Cape of Good Hope, . 4,150 3,380 Tunis. 650 420 

Total, . . . 23,620 14,938 

















THE WORLD'S TELEGRAPH SERVICE. 19 


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Grand total, . . 1,178,631 . . . 538,330 















20 TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


Proportion of Telegraph Supply to 
Population in 1879. 


• 

Miles of 
Wire. 

Stations. 

Population. 

Great Britain, . . 

154,901 

5,375 

32 000,000 

France, .... 

107,218 

4,132 

36,102,921 

German Empire, . 

98,750 

5,455 

42,756,910 

Austria, .... 

60,190 

6,198 

71,818,970 

Russia, .... 

62,296 

2,516 

87,722,000 

Denmark, . . . 

5,720 

204 

1,784.741 

Norway, .... 

9,111 

170 

1,760,000 

Sweden. 

12,704 

522 

4,250,412 

Switzerland,. . . 

5,508 

1,002 

2,699,147 

Netherlands, . . 

5,830 

330 

3,674,402 

Luxemburg, . . . 

275 

38 

197,528 

Belgium, .... 

16,430 

v 586 

5.283,821 

Portugal, . . . . 

4,656 

136 

4,367,882 

Spain,. 

16,700 

222 

16.798,925 

Italy,. 

38,880 

1,953 

26,801,154 

Greece, .... 

1,976 

60 

1,457,894 

Turkey, .... 

30,400 

444 

9,791,582 

Roumania, . . . 

4,470 

177 

4,800,000 

Servia,. 

1,440 

37 

1,338,505 

Dominion of Canada, 

20,000 

1,400 

4,000,000 

United States, . . 

245,662 

8,500 

40,000,000 


It is impossible as yet to present accurate 
figures employed in the Telephone service, 
whose rapid extension in this country and 
abroad has been the marvel and almost the 
miracle of the past three seasons. It was 
authoritatively stated at the close of 1880 
that there were upwards of 120,000 telephone 
terminals already established in the United 
States. The introduction of the Telephone 




















SIZES OF WIRE. 


has become world-wide. It may be safely 
estimated that the present Telegraph and 
Telephone service together represent an ag¬ 
gregate of over one and a half million 
miles of service wire, chiefly, for reasons 
hereafter to be shown, Galvanized Iron Wirr, 
expressly designed for electric transmission. 

Sizes of Wide in Use. 

Wire is known to the trade and in the ref¬ 
erences of electric science by the Gauge num¬ 
bers adopted diversely by the wire manufac¬ 
turers themselves. There are many wire 
gauges in use, and the subject of securing 
some universal and standard wire gauge has 
attracted much attention and discussion 
among the representatives of government 
standards, as well as scientific bodies, both 
in this country and Europe. It is known 
that the ordinary numbers of wire were in 
common use in 1735, and still earlier. These 
numbers were originally based on the actual 
series of drawn wires; No. 1 being the orig¬ 
inal rod and the succeeding numbers cor¬ 
responding with each draw of the wire—No. 
10 for instance having passed ten times 
through the draw plate. Each succeeding 
size in most of the standard gauges weighs 






22 


TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


about 20 per cent less than the size preceding, 
this reduction having been established as the 
most convenient and suitable in practice 
when all wire was drawn by hand, as was 
the case when the pioneer enterprise of the 
Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company 
was established in Worcester fifty years ago. 
Up to that time the workmen could draw 
out with hand pincers only fifteen pounds a 
day, and fifty pounds was a large day’s 
work. The Draw Plate had been in use four 
centuries before the process of making wire 
was made simple and effective by the Draw¬ 
ing Block, first introduced in this country in 
the Washburn Wire Mill at Worcester , Mass. 
The present features of the wire gauges re¬ 
main, however, mainly borrowed from that 
still earlier period. ' 

We give a cut exactly reproducing the 
Washburn or Worcester Gauge, an adapta¬ 
tion of the old and long-known English 
Stubs Gauge. This gauge, and the old Bir¬ 
mingham guage, represent by far the largest 
share of the Telegraph wire in use, and their 
numbers are constantly brought into refer¬ 
ences of tests and standards. For a more 
convenient showing of these two principal 
gauges, we give a cross section view of the 




distance. The committee say of this latter form of Gauge, u The acccuracy with which, 
measurements can he made with this Gauge when it is new and well made, is surprising. 
Exceedingly minute differences even in the diameter of the same wires, can be detected 
and measured with great nicety.”) 


SIZES OF WIRE. 


23 























































24 


TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


wire sizes in each gauge. These wires shown 
ranging from No. 1 to No. 16, comprise all 
the sizes known or required in the uses of 
electric service. 

BIRMINGHAM AND WORCESTER GAUGES. 




hr 

Ji 

Size in Mils, .ooi in. 

Weight per mile lbs. 


B W. G. 

W. G. 

B. W. G. 

W. G. 

1 

.300 

.283 

1210 

1121 

2 

.280 

.263 

1054 

968 

3 

.260 

.244 

909 

833 

4 

.240 

.225 

775 

707 

5 

.220 

.207 

651 

599 

6 

.200 

.192 

538 

514 

7 

.185 

.177 

461 

439 

8 

.170 

.162 

389 

367 

9 

.155 

.148 

323 

306 

10 

.140 

.135 

264 

255 

11 

.125 

.120 

211 

202 

12 

.110 

.105 

163 

154 

13 

.095 

.092 

124 

118 

14 

.085 

.080 

97 

89 

15 

.075 

.072 

76 

72 

16 

.065 

.063 

57 

55 


It is becoming customary as a remedy for 
the confusion resulting from the varieties of 
gauges, to abandon gauge numbers altogether 
in all cases where close accuracy is required, 
and to express sizes of Telegraph Wire either 
by weight in a given length, or the measured 
diameter of wires expressed in thousandths 
of an inch, known as mils. 



























Sizes of Wire by the Numbers of the Washburn & Moen or Worcester Gauge. 


GAUGE NUMBERS. 


25 







26 


TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


With this preface we are able to bring to 
the eye more clearly the various sizes of 
aerial telegraph wire employed in the world’s 
service, which a reference to the preceding 
table and cuts will make readily intelligible. 

The World’s Telegraph Wire. 

No. 1 B. W. Gauge was employed iu the 
earlier telegraph lines in India; believed to 
have been made necessary by the tendency of 
birds and monkeys to throng upon, and break 
down, the wires. It has, however, given 
place to lighter wires. 

No. 3, B. W. G. has been employed in some 
instances in the most important circuits of 
the English Telegraph system. 

No. 4 represents the largest size of Tele¬ 
graph wire now commonly used, and as 
present finding increasing favor, for reasons 
to be later discussed in these pages. It has 
long been employed on the more important 
long circuits in England. It is in use in two 
wires of the great Asiatic line from Con¬ 
stantinople to Fas on the Persian Gulf. The 
very striking fact of the extensive adoption 
of No. 4 Galvanized Iron Telegraph Wire by 
the W. U. Telegraph Company in the 
United States, in the last two or three sea¬ 
sons,-* we comment upon in another place. 











SIZES OF WIRE. 


27 


Nos. 5 and 6 are employed for tlie Inter¬ 
national Circuits established between the 
capitols of Europe, by the International Tele¬ 
graph Conferences. About three per cent 
of the telegraph wire used in the United 
States is No. 6. 

No. 8 may be considered the medium size 
employed for aerial lines in Europe. It is 
employed on English lines for circuits not 
exceeding four hundred miles. In France, 
Prussia and Switzerland it is used for ordin¬ 
ary circuits. It is used solely on the Austra¬ 
lian lines. In the United States it has been 
largely used for more important circuits of 
the telegraph, but is giving way to No. 4. 

No. 9 is used for less important circuits in 
most European countries; for the St. Goth- 
ard line in Switzerland; and solely for the 
entire Anglo-Persian system. In the United 
States nearly one-half of the telegraph wire 
used is No. U* galvanized iron 320 pounds to 
the mile. It is also rarely used for more im¬ 
portant Telephone lines, and District Police 
and Eire Alarm service. 

No. 10 is used on English railway lines for 
short circuits, and it has a limited employ¬ 
ment in the United States, in similar condi¬ 
tions ; also being used for Telephone service. 









28 


TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


No. 11 is used for 100 mile circuits on En¬ 
glish telegraph lines; also in Belgium for 
branch lines out of the principal routes of 
travel; extensively on Swiss minor lines; in 
Prussia for leading-in wires crossing the 
railways; and for local and short lines in 
France. Not now much used in telegraph 
service in the United States, except for pri¬ 
vate lines, and Fire Alarm circuits. It is 
much used in the Telephone service. 

No. 12. In England for short military lines 
of telegraph. In Germany for smaller branch 
routes. Little used for general telegraph pur¬ 
poses in the United States. Very largely 
employed in telephone circuits in the United 
States, and abroad. 

Nos. 13. 14 and 10 are represented only to a 
limited amount in telegraph service in this 
country and abroad, except for short private 
lines, but the two former are largely employed 
in telephone service. No. 16, is largely em¬ 
ployed for binding wire, at joints &c. 

Material of Wire. 

Without exception, the above references to 
wire in the telegraph service in this country 
and abroad, apply to Galvanized Iron Wire of 
the highest standards of excellence as indi- 












MATERIAL OF WIRE. 


29 


cated in the following from the requisitions of 
the leading Telegraph companies. 

Old Electric Telegraph Company (Great 
Britain). “Wire to be of iron highly anneal¬ 
ed, very soft and pliable; not required to 
possess great tensile strength, but must be 
capable of elongating 18 per cent without 
breaking, after galvanizing.” 

Belgian Bequisition. • “ Iron wire of first 
quality, even running, without flaws or faults ; 
well galvanized.” 

Prussian Bequisition. “ To be subjected to 
20 rectangular bends without breaking, and 
wound in a helical coil several times round a 
wire of its own size without split or break.” 

French Bequisition. “Annealed charcoal 
wire capable of bending at right angles to 
itself in a vice first one way, and then the other 
four times without breaking, and must stand 
wrapping round itself.” 

English Postal Telegraph. “ Highly an¬ 
nealed and very soft and pliable; free from 
scales, splits and inequalities. No deviation 
greater than .005 inch either way from pre¬ 
scribed diameter, well galvanized.” 

Western Union Telegraph Company. “ Iron 
wire, to be soft and pliable, capable of bear- 











TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


ing at least 2.5 its weight in pounds per mile 
—well galvanized.” 

What is Telegraph Wire ? 

In the answer to this question it is our 
purpose to briefly present such facts and fea¬ 
tures as have grown out of the electrical re¬ 
search that has occupied for many years 
some of the brightest and keenest minds of 
our age; as well as those suggested by the 
experience and successful compliance Avith 
such demand, by the Washburn & Moen 
Manufacturing Company. 

The earliest resort of the electrician and 
the practical telegrapher of the early day, 
was Copper wire, on account of its conduc¬ 
tivity ; No. 1G being generally used, the then 
condition of wire manufacture making that 
size most common. But the trial of Copper 
Avas short, and the verdict of abandonment 
universal. Copper Avire when exposed in the 
long stretches demanded, becomes self drawn 
to a mere hair, or parts altogether from its 
own weight, and the inevitable vicissitude 
of line exposure. 

“In selecting wire for telegraph purposes 
(says Preece) the points to be borne in mind 
are economy gnd durability, combined Avith 
Ioav resistance to the passage of Electricity. 




WHA T IS TELEGRAPH WIRE ? 


3 i 


Iron is the material which most closely tills 
these conditions, and iron wire is conse¬ 
quently all but universally employed in open 
telegraph lines.” 

Jenkin declares that “ wire suitable for the 
telegraph should be iron of great ductility, 
capable of being bent upon itself without in¬ 
jury; should be bent four times' back and 
forth in a vise.” 

Sprague, whose treatise has universal 
authority, says “ the iron should be soft and 
pure, since hardness increases the Electric 
resistance of metals. This shows that the 
transmission of Electricity depends upon 
molecular condition, for hardness is a state 
of stronger cohesion and rigidity, and there¬ 
fore of less freedom of motion. Annealing 
diminishes this strain, and allows a readier 
motion of the molecules among themselves, 
and thus allows Electricity to pass more free¬ 
ly.” 

Douglas notes that the effect of wire-draw¬ 
ing is to harden the iron, and raise its tenacity 
from rather more than 24 tons, to an average 
of 37 tons per square inch, or nearly 50 per 
cent. The effect of annealing is to reduce 
the tenacity of the wire to that of the orig¬ 
inal bar. The iron used for Telegraph Wire 












32 TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


should be of good quality, commonly “Best, 
Best,” with a high degree of ductility. 

Dr. Matthiessen’s elaborate tables are uni¬ 
versally accepted as showing the lower re¬ 
sistance offered by pure metals, in comparison 
with impure or alloyed metals. 

According to Culley “Iron containing a 
little carbon is stronger and twists better 
than pure iron, but has a higher resistance. 
Iron wire for telegraph use should be soft 
and capable of stretching 18 to 20 per cent 
before breaking. In very long spans, harder 
wire of greater tenacity may be necessary, 
but for general use the soft wire should be 
capable of being bent at right angles several 
times backward and forward without break¬ 
ing, so that joints may be made securely. 
The breaking strain should not be lower for 
No. 8 than 1800 lbs , or four times its weight 
per mile.” 

Prescott declares that “Iron wire is now 
used for telegraph lines in all parts of the 
world, almost without exception, the best 
wire for telegraphic purposes being made 
from pure charcoal iron, which after having 
been drawn possesses a high degree of tough¬ 
ness, especially if annealed, and when broken 
discloses a fibrous structure.” 





HOMOGENEOUS METAL. 


33 


Homogeneous Metal. 

Much wire used as iron' or put upon the 
market as such, especially since the intro¬ 
duction of the Bessemer processes for con¬ 
version of iron into low steel, contains more 
than 25 per cent, of carbon; it being the 
highest art of the wire drawer to work up to 
the stringent conditions of the specifications 
for best iron wire, above shown. This 
“homogeneous metal” is intermediate in 
composition between malleable iron and 
steel. All the tables show it to have greatly 
diminished conductivity. It supplies, how¬ 
ever, a wire of great tenacity, and in the 
shorter lines of local service of the Telephone, 
(where it is asserted that a portion of the 
the high conductivity requisite in the Tele¬ 
graph service, can be safely exchanged for 
tenacity in a wire of less cost and weight), 
it insures a very tough wire. But the call 
upon the manufacturer for a well made anti 
well galvanized wire is no less stringent and 
exacting than in the former case, and, these 
features neglected, the intended saving be¬ 
comes an actual waste to the buyer. The 
special features of the Telephone service 
remain to be discussed further on. 





TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


A series of recent elaborate tests at Man¬ 
chester, England, were recently made upon 
different varieties of Iron wire, beginning 
with pure iron smelted, and worked through¬ 
out w T ith charcoal, and ending with highly 
carbonized steel wires; the results showing 
that charcoal wire has the least electrical re¬ 
sistance, or about half that of piano steel, 
and it is noticeable that the resistance 
regularly increases as the impurities aug¬ 
ment. Annealed steel, which comes about 
midway between pure charcoal iron and piano 
wire, in the amount of carbon it contains, is 
also intermediate in point of electrical re¬ 
sistance. Annealing considerably diminishes 
the electrical resistance of puddled iron wire. 
The breaking strain and resistance are also 
found to increase together in a fairly regulated 
manner. The heat conductivity of metals, 
it is curious to note, is nearly proportionate, 
as shown in these tests, to their electric 
conductivity. 

Tests of Telegraph Wire. 

The Iron wire manufactured exclusively 
for Telegraph service is known in the market 
in this country and abroad by terms common 
to the trade. “ Best ” is the ordinary puddled 




TESTS OF TELEGRAPH WIRE ? 


35 


wire and is in fact applied to almost any kind 
of telegraph wire. 

“Best Best” indicates a superior quality to 
the former, and in its manufacture more ex¬ 
pensive pig iron is used. 

“ Extra Best Best ” is a higher quality ob¬ 
tained by the introduction of charcoal iron 
in connection with the last named. 

This last is, almost exclusively employed, 
and it is the only description recognized in 
the elaborate tables of tests which form a 
valuable and indispensable feature of all dis¬ 
cussions of Electric science applied to Tele¬ 
graphy ; though there are instances in line 
construction where long spans call for a wire 
of greater tenacity. 

There are other important requisitions laid 
upon the expert wire-drawer by the uses of 
Telegraphy. These are divided into two 
classes: Electrical tests and Mechanical 
tests. That neither one of these can in its 
place be disregarded, will be easily under¬ 
stood from the fact that in the early use of 
Copper wire for line service, that material 
answered every electrical test, but proved 
mechanically insufficient. The well con¬ 
structed line must in its conductivity trans¬ 
mit the current as perfectly as possible; and 





36 


TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


not the less, for its permanence, must it pos¬ 
sess sufficient strength to insure durability. 

Electrical Tests. 

This is not a treatise on Electricity, but 
rather a grouping of such known facts as 
establish the characteristics of wire; a brief 
review of the standards that have for many 
years given the reputation to the Telegraph 
Wire of the Washburn & Moen Manufactur¬ 
ing Company. The extension of the Electric 
Telegraph has made a practical knowledge of 
the terms and precise meaning of certain 
electric and magnetic phenomena necessary 
to, and a part of the ordinary business of a 
large number of. persons who are more or 
less occupied in the construction and work¬ 
ing of the lines, as well as interesting to many 
others who are unwilling to be ignorant of 
the use and meaning of the net work of wire 
that has come to bear such important and 
universal relation to the life and business of 
our communities. Until about 1850 meas¬ 
urements of Electrical Resistance, their pur¬ 
pose and meaning, were confined to the lab¬ 
oratory, but the extension of telegraph sys¬ 
tems soon after that period, rapidly gave a 
practical value and notoriety to electrical 












ELECTRICAL TESTS. 


37 


laws. Says Jenkin : “The first effect of the 
commercial use of resistance was to turn the 
‘feet’ of the laboratory into ‘miles’ of tele¬ 
graph wire. ” The early establishment of 
units of measurement began to find expres¬ 
sions at first different in different countries. 
Thus in England the mile of No. 16 copper 
wire; in Germany the German mile of No. 8 
iron wire; in France the kilometre (3280 ft. 
10 in.) of iron wire, 4 millimetres in diame¬ 
ter (No. 0). Previous to 1867 the unit of 
resistance employed in the United States was 
equal to that of one statute mile of No. 9 
iron wire. By the nature and conditions of 
its utilities, the Telegraph at least in the do¬ 
main of scientific research, has become inter¬ 
national, and continually increasing evils re¬ 
sulted from the discrepancies invariably 
found in the results reported from these 
different standards, until in 1860 Dr. Sie¬ 
mens constructed his standard. 

The Siemens Unit. 

A column of chemically'pure mercury 1 
metre (39.37 in ) long, with a sectional area 
equal to 1 millimetre (0.0394 in.)'square, 
maintained at the temperature of 0° cente- 
srrade. 













38 TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


Iii 1861 the British Association for the Ad¬ 
vancement of Science appointed a Commit¬ 
tee to determine the best universal standard 
of electrical resistance and as the result was 
adopted. 

The Ohm on B. A. Unit. 

This is stated by Culley as approximately 
equal in resistance to one mile of copper 
wire No. 4£ B. W. G. .2032 inch in diameter, 
and to between 7 and 8 feet of No. 35 B. W. 
G. .0085 inch diameter. 

Prescott gives the Ohm as about equal to 
wire of pure copper, one twentieth of an inch 
in diameter, and two hundred aud fifty feet in 
length; or of 330 feet of No. 0 iron wire, 155 
inch diameter of average quality “Extra 
Best, Best.” 

According to Gordon a mile of pure cop¬ 
per wire No. 16 B. W. G. has a resistance of 
13.7 Ohms. 

Clark says the Ohm is equal to the resist¬ 
ance of a prism of pure mercury. 1 square 
millimetre section, and 1.0486 metres long at 
zero Centegrade. 

The Ohm is equal to 1.0486 Siemen's units, 
and the ohm has been adopted in all English 
speaking countries, and is the recognized 




MECHANICAL TESTS. 


39 


standard in America. The Siemens Unit is 
in general use on the continent of Europe. 

It is by the Ohm as a measure of resistance 
that the comparative values of telegraph 
wire are readily known to the telegrapher 
and in the market, where the Ohm has now 
as well recognized, though less understood, 
meaning than feet, pounds, or other expres¬ 
sions of measure. That these resistance 
unit measurements have a practical value on 
telegraphy, in its plainest business aspects, is 
assured in the fact that increased resistance 
in the line wire adds virtually to length of 
circuit, while increased conductivity admits 
of a reduction in battery power with a con¬ 
sequent decrease in the escape of electricity, 
and long circuits may be worked with much 
greater facility. 

Mechanical Requisitions. 

It is noticeable that the requisitions of the 
telegraph companies establish very careful 
mechanical tests for iron wire, all science as 
well as experience having shown that electri¬ 
cal results will follow. 

The wire must be tough and pliable, not 
merely to withstand strain, but because such 
structure and nature of the material, fully es- 












40 


TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


tablislies the prime requisite of conductivity. 
The wire should be well drawn, without 
welds or splits, these being sure to betray 
their weakness under strain, besides insuring 
the rapid destruction of the wire by rust, and 
inevitably diminishing conductive power. 

Long Lengths. 

The wire should be in long lengths, to 
avoid joints; and the purpose of the long- 
lengths is defeated if the occurrence of fre¬ 
quent faults makes it necessary afterward to 
cut and rejoin the pieces. 

This leading indispensable feature of Tele¬ 
graph and Telephone wire has long been the 
specialty of the Washburn & Moen Manufac¬ 
turing Company’s wire. Our Patent Con¬ 
tinuous Processes enabling us to draw wire 
from the rod into the longest lengths com¬ 
patible with ease of handling in shipment, and 
line construction; this being the only limit. 

Joints. 

The science and experience of the practical 
telegrapher have long ago declared the cost 
and evil of joints. The best made joints are 
to be avoided in frequency as far as possible, 
as sure to increase the resistance of the line. 








Modified Twist Joint, {little used). 


Old Bell Hanger’s Joint, {disused). 



Modified Bell Hanger’s Joint, {disused). 











































42 


TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


A poor joint, rusty and unsoldered, will 
often cause more resistance than fifty miles of 
line. We illustrate a few of these joints 
known or in use in telegraphy, to show that 
quality of metal has primarily much to do 
with the perfect joint; a flawy and brittle 
wire cannot be made readily into a good 
joint, of the kind most common in line con¬ 
struction in this country. All joints require 
careful soldering. 

Mechanical Tests. 

For telegraph sendee, certain tests for 
ductility are always specified, and these have 
secured the high reputation the Telegraph 
Wire of the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing 
Company has held in Telegraph Service, for 
many years. These tests may be classified 
as Elongation tests, Torsion tests, Bending 
tests. The nature of the last has been 
already sufficiently indicated. Severe tests 
of the quality of telegraph wire are insepar¬ 
able from faithful line erection. The line¬ 
man who does his duty, will be sure to bring 
to light defects, unless this has already been 
done by the manufacturer. 

But we are in this place to speak of 
the more formal and elaborate tests of the 
wire that stamp its character before it is 













ELONGA TION TESTS. 


43 


delivered for line use. The Elongation 
test consists in stretching a wire a cer¬ 
tain percentage of its length, and its ultimate 
conclusion is reached in the breaking strain. 
In all cases short bars or wires stretch pro¬ 
portionately more than long ones. It is 
usual, therefore, to specify the length to be 
tested. 

In general the elongation test is applied to 
pieces 10 inches long, and an elongation of 
18 per cent, is commonly specified at this 
length; but Culley declares tliqt ten feet is a 
more suitable length to exhibit the quality 
of wire. 

Culley; in 75 tests of a wire 1G5 mils, (No. 
9) found pieces 10 inches long stretched 19.5 
per cent; pieces 120 inches long stretched 
12.7 per cent; while in a few pieces tested 
in lengths of 100 yards the ultimate elonga¬ 
tion was but little over 6 per cent. He also 
found that time occupied in testing the wire 
materially influences the results, the elonga¬ 
tions being proportionately greater when the 
times were as 100, 173, and 311, the alter¬ 
nate elongations were 178, 154, and 138, 
respectively. Mr. Bell thinks this may be 
explained by the softening of the wire from 
the heat developed by rapid stretching. 









44 


TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


Shaffner, in 1859, made and reported a series 
of tests of Galvanized Iron Telegraph Wire of 
Washburn & Moen manufacture, which is 
recorded in his Manual, ( p . 521.) It is worth 
giving in this connection to show the high 
excellence our wire had already attained. 



Plain Iron 
Breaking Strain. 

Zinc Coated 
Breaking Strain. 

No. 6. 

2.390 

2.300 

No. 7. 

2.210 

2.010 

No. 8. 

1.985 

1.820 

No. 9. 

1.665 

1.520 

No. 10. 

1.385 

1.270 

No. 11. 

1.155 

1.043 

No. 12. 

992 

832 

No. 13. 

885 

641 


Good vyire should begin to stretch with 
about half the breaking strain. We give an 
illustration of the effect of the breaking 
strain applied to a sample of Extra Best 
Best Galvanized Telegraph Wire No. 8, 
largely magnified to show the effect of the 
strain, both upon the Wire itself and the 
Zinc Coating. 

The Torsion Test 

is applied by holding a length of wire, gen¬ 
erally six inches, in two vices a fixed dis¬ 
tance apart, and causing the vices to revolve 

















(The result of perfect Galvanizing is most strikingly shown in both these tests 
of the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company’s Galvanized Iron Telegraph 
Wire. The strong union of the covering metal is exhibited in both instances.) 



























































46 


TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


and twist the wire about its own axis. An 
ink line drawn on the wire previous to test¬ 
ing forms a plainly marked spiral, whose 
turns'may be counted, and the ultimate num¬ 
ber of turns is the test of ductility. The 
number of turns is inversely as the diameter 
of the wire. We give a cut of a sample of 
Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company’s 
E. B. B. galvanized No 8, that under this 
test showed 19 turns in 6 inches. 

According to Culley, the better qualities of 
wire, charcoal and homogeneous metal bear 
the twist better than the elongation test. 
Thus comparing wire of a similar gauge : 


Ordinary Wire, Charcoal, 

ioo Mils. ioo Mils. 

Elongation, - - 17.4 17. 

Twists in 6 inches, 12. 18. 


Ordinary Wire, 
234 Mils. 

Elongation, - - 17.f> 

Twists in 6 inches, 10. 


Homogeneous 
253 Mils. 

17.6 

13. 


The number of twdsts that wire of the 
same quality will bear is inversely as its 
diameter. A wire of 253 mils, (No. 3,) bore 
13 turns in 6 inches; a wire of 207 mils, 
(No. 6,) 15 turns; a wire of 146 mils, (No. 
10,) 25 turns; a wire of 77 mils, (No. 15,) 














IV. U. TE LFCO.\TESTS. 


47 


38.7 turns; these being the averages given 
by Culley from a large number of trials. 

To better illustrate the subject of tests, we 
copy from the Journal of the Telegraph a 
summary of the results of a series of me¬ 
chanical and electrical tests recently made 
upon four samples of Galvanized Iron Wire, 
the sizes being those commonly used in 
telegraphic construction. 


MECHANICAL. 


Pounds Weight per 
Mile. 

Breaking Strain 
lbs. 

Per cent 
Elongation 

No. 9. 

No. 9. 

No. 9. 

No. 8. 

282.8 

287.5 

293.5 

378.1 

"^9 l 770 

760/ ' 

825 | q<? 9 r 

840 J 832 - 5 

121.0 ) .257 5 
1255 / 12 '• 

1640 

1630 / 1635 

10 

16 

16 

10 


ELECTRICAL 


Pounds Weight 
per Mile. 

No. Twists in 6 
Inches. 

Percent con¬ 
ductivity 
(Pure copper 
xoo) 

Resistance 
per mile 
ohms 

6o deg Fahr. 

No. 9. 

282.8 

25 1 

28 j 

>26.5 

21.9 

16.1 

No. 9. 

287.5 

371 

31 j 

>20 

21.6 

16.1 

No. 9. 

293.5 

28] 

27. 

>27.5 

15.1 

22.7 

No. 8. 

378.1 

29 ) 3i 

33/ 31 

16.1 

16.1 












































48 


TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


“The above results seem to point to one 
very interesting as well as important fact, viz : 
the close relation existing between the ten¬ 
sile strength and the electrical resistance of 
iron wire. It will be observed that the first 
three samples tested are of nearly the same 
guage or weight per mile, the size being that 
usually designated as No. The tensile 

strength or breaking strain of the third 
sample is some 50 per cent, greater than that 
of the first two, while its specific electrical 
resistance is also comparatively very high. 
The proportionate tensile strength of the 
last two samples is very nearly equal, and so 
also is their proportionate conductivity, as 
compared with pure copper shown in the 
fourth column. There seems to be no appar¬ 
ent relation existing between the conduc¬ 
tivity, or tensile strength of the several 
wires, and the percentage of elongation, or 
the number of twists that a given length will 
sustain before breaking. The high conduc¬ 
tivity of the first two samples is very re¬ 
markable.” 

Galvanized Iron Wire. 

We come now to speak of a feature of 
Telegraph Wire, inseparable from its perma¬ 
nent utility. Whatever the quality of the 













GALVANIZED IRON WIRE. 


49 


original material, iron wire nuclei* nearly all 
exposures will certainly rust, and this ten¬ 
dency is increased by the passage of the 
current. All electric authorities have long- 
been unanimous on the subject of the thor¬ 
ough and complete protection of the wire by 
Galvanizing. Dr. Larclner notes the differ¬ 
ence wrought in the conductivity of plain 
iron wire when it has been coated with its 
own oxide, “it at times failing to transmit 
altogether through some unexplained atmos¬ 
pheric effect.” 

Prescott says, “ Iron wire ought to be gal¬ 
vanized to prevent it from rusting as a mat¬ 
ter of economy, to say nothing of the great¬ 
er ease with which the current propagates 
itself upon it. Near the sea, wires not coat¬ 
ed, rust off in a few years. In fact we have 
seen instances where they have completely 
melted away in less than two years under 
the influence of spray.” 

Culley declares, “ It is perfectly useless to 
attempf to stay the progress of rust, after it 
has once commenced, for however carefully 
the wire may be cleaned the rust forms 
again. If a speck of rust is seen on the tubes 
of the Brittana Bridge, it is carefully chipped 
off with a cold chisel before it is re-painted.” 














TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


Pope’s Manual says, “ Galvanized or zinc 
coated wire must always be used for perma¬ 
nent work,* for rust reduces the conducting 
power of wire very rapidly.” 

Galvanizing adds to the wire surface on 
which the current is carried, an even better 
conducting medium than the iron; Zinc, ac¬ 
cording to the tables of M. Becquerel having 
a conductivity of 28.5, iron 15.5. All the 
best electric authorities agree as to the great¬ 
er ease with which the electric current pro¬ 
pagates itself on iron wire thus coated. 

So early was the Galvanizing principle ap¬ 
plied to telegraph wires, that the most durable 
portion of the telegraph lines has been the 
wire. “In no instance,” says a competent 
authority, ( Engineer ), “ hasit been necessary 
to re-wire the oldest lines when not exposed 
to any especially destructive agency. In 
1880 Mr. Preece tested before the London 
Society of Telegraph Engineers a sample of 
Galvanized Iron Telegraph Wire that had been 
in constant use on the London and South 
Western Railway for thirty-six years, and 
showed its unimpared value. On the conti¬ 
nent of Europe for a number of years, for 
motives of supposed economy, the use of 
Galvanized iron wire was extensively set 




GALVANIZED IRON WIRE. 


aside by several of the governments, notably 
Prussia, Austria, and Russia, the theory be¬ 
ing held that at the same cost with Galvan¬ 
ized wire a larger wire of plain iron could 
be employed; but the system was abandoned 
after great loss. In 1877, Mr. Prescott, oc¬ 
cupying a front rank among American prac¬ 
tical electricians, elicited elaborate testi¬ 
monials from the heads of the telegraph de¬ 
partments of leading foreign nations, some 
notes from which will be of value. 

The Director General of Prussian lines, re¬ 
ferring to the period of using plain wire 
above noted says, “Old lines constructed of 
plain No. 6 and No. 8 plain wire have suffer¬ 
ed so considerably from rust as to necessi¬ 
tate their replacement, while the oldest lines 
of Galvanized iron wire are yet in a perfect 
state of preservation.” 

Rothan of the Swiss telegraph service con¬ 
firms this same view. Neilson declares Gal¬ 
vanized iron alone to be in use in Norway, 
as the most permanently durable. Staring 
of Belgium says : “All our plain iron wires 
were replaced in 1872 when the diameter of 
such wires was found to have been reduced 
to one-half its original size from rust, and its 
electric resistance greatly impeded transmis- 




52 


TELEGRAP.H WIRE. 


sion, while our Galvanized wires have been 
in use for twenty-five years and their resist¬ 
ance has changed very little. 

The Swedish telegraph service reports 
that “after a few years the lion-galvanized 
wire became so deteriorated in consequence 
of oxydatiou that they have been replaced 
with Galvanized Wire.” Vend, Director Gen¬ 
eral of the Ottoman Telegraph, declares the 
use of plain wire not economical “as it can 
only be expected to last from 10 to 15 years. ” 
In Greece only Galvanized Wire has been 
from the first employed. The Italian tele¬ 
graphs, to their confessed loss, made use of 
plain iron wire, which had to be taken down 
as unserviceable. 

The official specifications of the French, 
Prussian, Belgian, and English telegraph 
systems now call for careful tests of Galvan¬ 
ized Iron Wire and will accept no other. 

The History of Galvanizing. 

The utility of coating iron with Zinc by 
processes, very like those now in common 
use, was announced by Melouin in 1742, but 
the subject attracted very little attention un¬ 
til the discoveries and patents of M. Sorel at 
Paris, 1837, which were received with an en¬ 
thusiasm that seems now remarkable. The 











HIS TOR Y OF GAL VA NIZING. 


53 


invent ion was patented in Great Britain by 
Capt. Crawford the same year with the 
French patents, and the subject attracted 
great attention from savans 'and all interest- 

* *- i 

ed in the iron trade and its products. As a 
bit of history, and to show that galvanizing 
and not a simple coating was claimed by the 
inventor, we give an extract from Sorel’s 
patent. 

“To all whom it may concern, be it 
kn vwu that I, M. Sorel, of the city of Paris, 
in the kingdom of France, have invented or 
discovered a method, or methods, by which 
the various articles made of iron and steel 
may lie effectually preserved from oxydation 
or rusting by the galvanic action produced by 
zinc. It is well known to chemists and to all 
persons versed in the physical sciences that 
a galvanic action is produced by the contact 
of two metals different in their natures, and 
that the most oxydable of the two metals 
thus brought into contact becomes positively 
electrified, while that which is least oxyda- 
-ble becomes negatively electrified, and also 
that when brought into this state the most 
oxydable or positively electrified metal has 
a tendency to become oxydized and will ex-, 
tract oxygen from compounds containing 
this agent, whilst the least oxydable of the 
two metals will be protected from oxydation 
although exposed to agents which would ox- 
ydize it but for the contact of the negative 
metal. * * * The process of covering 

articles of iron with tin is well known and is 
exemplified most’largely imthe^manufacture 











54 


TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


of wliat is usually known under the name of 
sheet tin or tin plate, which consists of thin 
sheets of iron coated with tin. In this ma¬ 
terial there is necessarily galvanic action be¬ 
tween the two metals, but it is to the disad¬ 
vantage of that which it is proposed to pro¬ 
tect, namely the iron, which being more ox¬ 
ydable than tin becomes positively electri¬ 
fied and has its tendency to rust increased, 
the sole protecting effect of the tin in this 
case depending upon the perfectness with 
which the iron is coated by it, as is clearly 
shown by the rusting of the iron whenever 
any portion of this coating is removed and 
the iron is exposed to the action of moisture. 
Were the galvanic action in favor of the iron 
it would be protected notwithstanding the 
abrasion of the tin, as its protecting influ¬ 
ence is not limited to the mere point of con¬ 
tact, but extends far beyond it. ” 

“ In the scale of the oxydability of the dif- 
erent metals, commencing with those which 
are the most oxydable, it has been found that 
zinc stands before iron, and it follows there¬ 
fore that when these two metals are brought 
into contact a protecting influence will be 
exerted upon the iron by the zinc, and that 
the rusting of the former metal will thereby 
be prevented. ” 

“ It might be supposed from the fact that 
zinc is more oxydable than iron, that this 
metal if set to protect iron would itself soon 
become oxydized or rusted, and would conse¬ 
quently leave the iron unprotected, and such 
reasoning would undoubtedly be just, but for 
another fact well known to chemists that 
there are certain metals, of which zinc is one, 
which after they have acquired their superfi¬ 
cial coat of oxide are thereby effectually pro- 

















HISTORY OF GALVANIZING? 


55 


tected from the further absorption of oxygen 
under ordinary exposure. 

He proceeds to specify his different modes 
of applying his invention under his patent. 
The Journal of the Franklin Institute of 1838 
copies from the Loudon Mechanics Magazine 
a large amount of testimony of eminent Brit¬ 
ish chemists, sustaining the merits of the in¬ 
vention, under which influence the extension 
of the employment of the processes was car¬ 
ried out with great enthusiasm, and some of 
the assertions of these high authorities read 
strangely enough today. Thus Prof. Gra¬ 
ham of the London University claimed that 
in experiments conducted at Dublin and 
Liverpool it was found that small pieces of 
zinc attached to each link of a chain cable 
were adequate to defend it from corrosion 
in sea water; and that so long as the zinc re¬ 
mained in contact with the iron links, the 
protection was observed to be complete, even 
in the upper portion of the upper chains by 
which buoys are moored, and which from 
being alternately exposed to sea water and 
air, are particularly liable to oxydation. 

The experience of years has sliowu the fu¬ 
tility of some of the extraordinary claims, 
but enough remains established to declare 
the value of a truth strongly urged by Sir 















56 


7'ELEGRAPH WIRE. 


Humphrey^Davy, ancl others after him, that 
irfall cases where two different metals are in 

a 

contact, a current of electricity will be es¬ 
tablished in them in such a direction as to 
protect the least oxydable of the metals. In 
common tin plate the corrosion of the iron is 
actually accelerated by the tin, at all points 
where the iron is exposed; a familiar fact. 

Extensive discussion of this wdiole subject 
rills the scientific journals of the period, for 
years following the use of Galvanized iron. 
In 1844 the Journal of the Franklin Institute 
referring to the repeated failures of the prin¬ 
ciple, says, as remains true today, “These 
numerous failures have been produced by 
imperfect processes, the impurities existing 
in the zinc of commerce, as well as the rapid 
deterioration of the zinc in the act of apply¬ 
ing it to the iron as ordinarily pursued.” 

This brief review will be interesting as es¬ 
tablishing the scientific reasons why zinc has 
been chosen as the protector of iron; and its 
value inltelegraph service has already been 
abundantly and triumphantly established. 

As presented in the Patent Process of Gal¬ 
vanizing in use in their works, which has giv¬ 
en the known high character to the Patent 
Gaivanized Iron Telegraph Wire of the 






HIS TOR V OF GAL l'A NIZING. 


57 


Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Coinpauy, 
there is combined into one the three processes 
of Annealing, Cleaning and Galvanizing. The 
hard iron wire is first tempered by being 
passed through moderately heated tubes, 
then drawn through a bath of acid which re¬ 
moves all surface impurities, and thence car¬ 
ried directly through a bath of molten zinc. 
By this process under our exclusive patents 
in this country, an adhesion is secured be¬ 
tween the two metals, the lack of which is 
often seen, and is a cause of loss in much im¬ 
perfectly galvanized iron wire. The strong 
adhesion and actual incorporation of the zinc 
with our iron wire is strikingly shown in 
the illustration we have given of the Break¬ 
ing test (see page 42) where, under the stress, 
the zinc follows the stretch of the iron as a 
part of itself. A still more striking proof is 
shown when a few inches of our galvanized 
wire is filed smooth, until to all appearances 
the last trace of zinc is removed. But when 
the twisting process is resorted to, a fresh 
appearance of zinc in minute particles is 
brought to the surface of the iron, showing 
that by our process of galvanizing the zinc 
in the contact of the two heated metals is ac¬ 
tually taken into the substance of the iron. 










5 « 


TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


We have thus given, as compactly as pos¬ 
sible, the scientific facts and business rea¬ 
sons developed in practical telegraphy, why 
the Galvanized Iron Telegraph Wire of the 
Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company 
still occupies, as it has done since the first 
introduction of the Telegraph, the front rank 
and foremost place in telegraph supply. 

Use of Large Wire. 

It remains to speak of a feature growing 
out of the higher development of the tele¬ 
graph system, the use of large wire. 

Much of the new, and all of the most im¬ 
portant line construction of the Western 
Union Telegraph Company, in the past two 
or three seasons has called for No. 4 Wire 
in place of No. 8, and No. 0 as a marked 
tendency in advanced telegraph service. 

There is nothing new in the discovery of 
the greater advantage of larger telegraph 
wire. In Shaffner’s Telegraph Manual, before 
referred to, one of the earliest and most 
exhaustive treatises on operative Telegraphy 
(New York 1859), facts were urged to prove 
the great advantage of the use of the larger 
sized wire for telegraph lines. 

Prescott decares: “The charge of elec¬ 
tricity measured by its potential, resides 













USE OF LARGE WIRE. 


59 


only on the surface of line wire, and its 
amount is determined by the magnitude and 
form of the surface. A No. 8 wire has a 
surface of 228.04 square feet to the miles; a 
No. 6 wire has 280.37 square feet.” 

Culley says: “The resistance lessens as 
the size of the wire increases, in the ratio of 
the square of its diameter.” 

Spon, “All other things being equal, the 
conductivity of wire is proportioned to its 
size.” 

Culley relates how an Admiralty Circuit of 
No. 8 wire between London and Devonport 
worked badly when insulation was imper¬ 
fect, until, complaints having become fre¬ 
quent, a No. 4 wire was substituted, not 
better insulated than the other, when all 
trouble ceased. A No. 4 was for similar 
reasons, and with like results, substituted 
for No. 8 in the London and Leith line, 
which removed all difficulty in working. 

From all the evidence of the best telegraph 
experts, the larger the wire the greater the 
strength of the signal that can be transmitted 
through it to any distance. 

The less the size, and consequently the 
conductivity of the line wire, the more care 
is required in its insulation, for an increased 









6o TELEGRAPH WIRE. 


resistance virtually acids to the length of the 
circuit. Increased conductivity thus as¬ 
sured in careful choice and adaptation of a 
line wire gives great economy in battery 
power, and very long circuits may thus be 
worked with much greater facility; a fact 
which was too miicli ignored in the con¬ 
struction of the earlier lines of telegraph in 
this country. 

Though all these electric facts have been 
long known, the impulse to the introduction 
of larger wire seems to have been resisted 
on the longer routes in this country, from 
supposed economic reasons, until the intro¬ 
duction of Multiplex Telegraphy enforced an 
increased working capacity of the wires. 

The No. 4 Galvanized Iron Telegraph Wire 
of the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing 
Company is such a product as could only 
come from wire-drawing of highest experi¬ 
ence, and from the best modern processes, 
many of them special to our establishment. 

Telephone Wire. 

It remains to refer to the latest and most 
marvellous development of electric trans¬ 
mission reached in the Telephone, which by 
its almost miraculously rapid extension has 
made a strong demand upon wire production 




TELEPHONE IVIRE. 61 


for the past three seasons. It is easy to see 
from the convenience already supplied to 
business and domestic life, why the telphone 
was forecast at the start for universal adop¬ 
tion. No reliable statistics are yet made 
public of the place the telephone has already 
occupied, but it has found adoption in all 
parts of the globe, both among the most en¬ 
lightened, and even half barbaric nations. 
The Telephone supplies a feature in electric 
transmission the telegraph could never be 
expected to occupy, in the numerous short 
lines that have come to be centered in the 
Telephone Exchanges, found in all our large 
centres, and furnishing the sentient nerves of 
so many departments of ouiTifeand business. 
More than this the Telephone has already 
widely come in*to a use which displaces the 
Telegraph on routes where economy is served 
in doing away with the cost of operators, 
and supplying facilities, when these are real¬ 
ized in a perfection, that the best equipped 
telegraph office canuot supply. It is still a 
subject of inquiry to what ultimate distance 
the Telephone can be made practically avail¬ 
able. It has been assured that conversation 
over a single wire can be carried on easily 
through two hundred miles of wire. It is 




62 TELEPHONE WIRE. 


asserted recently that 800 miles distance 
have lately been conquered. It is believed 
that, by some yet to be realized perfection of 
appliances, the longest ocean cable will yet 
be employed for telephonic transmission. 

What is the Telephone. 

It is not the current alone that produces 
these results but the undulatory or constantly 
varying nature of that current. (Spoil). 

In the telephone the muscular effort of the 
speaker undergoes the following transforma- 
ions : 

1st, Into vibrations of the air. 

2nd, Into metallic vibrations. 

3d, Into magnetic waves. 

4th, Into electric induction. 

5th, Into magnetic induction. 

6th, Into metallic vibrations. 

7th, Into vibrations of the air. 

8th, Into vibrations of the auditory appara¬ 
tus. 

The sounds that are heard in the Telephone 
are produced by the vibration of the metallic 
plate or diaphragm, which is set in motion 
by the vibration of magnetic intensity in the 
permanent magnet placed behind it, which 
variation of magnetic intensity is produced 
by a current of electricity traversing the coils, 




TELEPHONE WIRE. 63 


thus itself constantly varying in intensity ac¬ 
cording to the motion of the diaphragm at 
the distant station. 

According to one leading authority only 
about 1-1800 of the sound which is com¬ 
municated to the telephone is transmitted to 
the receiver, but though so much weaker than 
the original vibrations, they so closely re¬ 
semble them as to repeat the original quality 
of voice. The currents transmitted are so 
weak as to escape observation by the most 
delicate galvanometer as the magnetic needle 
however light must be too sluggish to be 
moved by such quick impulses. The rapidity 
with which these reversing currents follow 
each other, says Dr. Siemens, may be deter¬ 
mined in transmitting the sound of a high 
pitched tuning fork, and from experiments in 
this direction Kontgen concludes that not 
less than twenty-seven thousand currents 
can be transmitted in one second. 

WHAT IS TELEPHONE WIRE ? 

In a field of inquiry and experience so new, 
there are yet widely diverse opinions as to 
essential facts, but the Telephone was born 
and rocked in the cradle of the Telegraph, as 
an heir to its general heritage. 

Under most of the conditions in which the 




64 


TELEPHONE WIRE. 


Telephone is in use, on the short lines that 
make up the larger share of the service it is 
claimed as established that the light currents 
employed, and the small resistance offered by 
the shortness of the line, permit an economy 
of cost that warrants the exchange of some 
measure of conductivity, for strong light 
wires of greater tensility and hence more re¬ 
sistance. Brooks says; “it is found in 
Telephone working that the smaller the wire 
the freer it is from induction and the familiar 
noisy rattle.” On the other hand it is claim¬ 
ed “that the volume of sound is increased 
by heavy wire. Thus in the telegraph wire 
No. 8, the sounds were fuller and stronger 
than in thinner wires, and faint sounds were 
more readily transmitted.” ( Engineering .) 

Without the purpose to enter into the dis¬ 
cussions of electric science now engaging 
some of the greatest and most earnest minds 
of the age, the Wire Manufacturer can at least 
properly consider these established facts thus 
far developed. 

1st. For longer lines, for distances to the 
utmost limit of length yet attempted for reg¬ 
ular telephonic communication, the larger 
share, and almost the whole of the best and 
most successful Telephone service is now 








TELEPHONE WIRE. 


65 


carried 011 over lines constructed of from 
No. 10 to No. 11, No. 12 and No. 14 (with a 
preponderance toward the last two sizes,) of 
high grade, Galvanized Iron Telegraph Wire 
selected by exactly the same specifications 
and tests as for Telegraph service. Some 
notable instances are afforded of the failure 
of long telephone lines built with cheap wire 
of low conductivity. The best and most 
successful longer Telephone routes, and some 
of the best Telephone Exchange systems in 
the eastern as well as the western states have 
been built with “ Extra Best Best ” Galvan¬ 
ized Iron Telegraph Wire of the Washburn & 
Moen Manufacturing Company. 

2nd. For local and district short lines, a 
cheaper, strong, tough wire of homogenous 
metal is employed it is declared, with perfect¬ 
ly successful working; from 3 to 4 ohms per 
mile being exchanged it is believed, safely 
and with profit, when cost is considered. 

But whatever wire be used for the Tele¬ 
phone, so far as conductivity is concerned, 
there can be no safety nor economy in the 
departure from the fact that, be the material 
what it may, the wire should be well made, 
Since the large adoption of the low steels for 
many of the uses for which iron was not long 








66 TELEPHONE WIRE. 


ago solely employed, it lias proved very easy 
for some manufacturers with cheap applian¬ 
ces, to flood the market with poor and flawy 
wire with a flimsy pretence of Galvanizing. 
The qualities of all good wire depend not- 
less upon the drawing than upon the mate¬ 
rial, whatever the grade demanded. The pro¬ 
tection of all Iron or Steel Wire depends on 
perfect Galvanizing. The Patent Galvanized 
wire of the Washburn & Moen Manufactur¬ 
ing Company has the same excellence and 
faithfulness in all grades, and the benefits of 
our fifty years experience in Wire Produc¬ 
tion. 




183d-1881 



The Wire Product of the United States is about one 
hundred and twenty thousand tons annually, of which 
about one-third, or from 36,000 to 40,000 tons represents 
the annual product of the Washburn & Moen Manu¬ 
facturing Company at the Grove Street Works and 
Quinsigamond Works at Worcester, Mass., cuts of 
which are given in these pages. The area occupied by 
this company is a total of twenty-three acres, with 
structures of the best type of their class, the exterior 
features of which, with their general arrangement, will 
be best understood from the engravings. The Grove 
Street Works present a continuous front of 600 feet of 
solid brick structure, to which the principal central 
building, in which are the Company’s General Of¬ 
fices, gives an excellent effect, with its massive pro¬ 
portions and shapely tower. It was on this site that the 
first Washburn Wire Mill was established to employ 
the power of Mill brook, whose waters still feed the 
adjoining Salisbury pond. 

The history of Washburn & Moen Manufacturing 
Company runs back to 1831, the present year being its 
SEMI-CENTENNIAX. 

This company now employ about 2600 men; many 
of them for years in its service. An aggregate of 3000- 










68 FIFTY YEARS' HISTORY. 


horse power represents the motors that drive the ma¬ 
chinery of these works. The floor space represents a 
total area of something over twelve acres. 

These may he taken as the essential facts of this es¬ 
tablishment, now and for years past the largest exclu¬ 
sive Wire Drawing establishment in the world. 

The history of the Washburn & Moen Manufactur¬ 
ing Company both in time, and in its connection with 
some of the most essential features of its progress, repre¬ 
sents in this country almost the entire period of the his¬ 
tory of WIRE DRAWING! in its broadest relation to 
our industries. Though wire making was one of the 
earliest of the arts in the treatment of metals, it is not 
until within the past half century that improved pro¬ 
cesses in the treatment of the commonest metals made 
wire an almost universal utility. 

At the present time this Company are making ninety- 
five different kinds of Wire. While Patent Galvan¬ 
ized Iron Telegraph and Telephone Wire, and Patent 
Galvanized Steel Fence Wire stand as leading special¬ 
ties, its wire product contributes to upwards of fortt 
different lines of leading manufacture. 

For the whole period since the first practical Telegraph 
lines were established in this country, the Galvanized 
Iron Telegraph Wire of this company has been recog¬ 
nized as the standard in excellence, and these works have 
been the leading source of supply of the best Telegraph 
Wire in use. 
















































WASHBUKN & MOEN M’F’G CO 

Worcester, Mass. 



Patent Steel Barb Fencing. 




" TK4 /iiruMr'i ttnn/ort, 1 * — ** 7*Ac Cardanar'a Security.'* 






A Steel Thom Hedge. No other Fencing so cheap or put up so easily or a 
[ quickly. Never rusts, stains, decays, shrinks, nor warps. Unaffected br fire. I 
I wind, or flood. A complete barrier to the mott unrsly stock, Impassable by I 
Lr beast 


Tv/o Thousand Tons Sold and put up durino the Last Yea*. 
For sale at the leading hardware stores, with Ctrctchere and Staples 
Send lor Illustrated PamphLfc 


125,000 MILES IN USE SINCE 1876. 


Send for Circulars and copies of ••Tiie Farm.” 

























